As Lipitor lawsuits continue to mount, it can be hard to keep track of the number of plaintiffs involved in the Lipitor multidistrict litigation. One year ago, Lipitor lawsuits were estimated to number just under 1,000. But many Lipitor lawsuits include more than one plaintiff. As one lawyer set to representing Lipitor plaintiffs in the South Carolina multidistrict litigation was reported to have said in a Reuters article, the nearly 1,000 cases pending in August 2014 represented about 4,000 women.
Women who have filed Lipitor lawsuits claim that Pfizer’s cholesterol-lowering drug increased their chance of developing type 2 diabetes and other health complications. The plaintiffs allege that the New York–based pharmaceutical giant concealed information about the diabetes risks of Lipitor and marketed its drug without adequate warning of its potential side effects. These possible side effects, as elucidated in a 2012 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) safety alert, include liver problems, loss of cognitive function, and increased blood sugar, which can lead to diabetes. In the same announcement, the agency informed the public that the labels of Lipitor and other statins would be updated to reflect these risks.
In February 2014, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation moved to consolidate 56 Lipitor lawsuits in a multidistrict litigation in federal court in South Carolina. In just six months, the number of Lipitor lawsuits skyrocketed to nearly 1,000. Since then, Lipitor lawsuits have continued to be filed at a steady rate, with an estimated 2,000 already entered into the multidistrict litigation. If calculations are accurate, that means that somewhere around 8,000 women are now involved in Lipitor lawsuits. And if the number of cases in the litigation reaches 10,000, as predicted, that could mean even more individual Lipitor plaintiffs.
